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Maryland continued its scorching start to the 2016-2017 campaign, defeating league rival Virginia Tech 4-1 Friday night at The Gardens Ice House.

After routing Delaware the week prior, the Terps overwhelmed the visiting Hokies with speed and skill, and improved their record to 4-0 on the season.

“We’re pretty happy with the start, to start out 4-0 is what we’re hoping for,” head coach Jim Gaudet said.

In a tight-checking game, Maryland exchanged chances with Virginia Tech through the game’s first 10 minutes, before surrendering an uncharacteristic opening goal.

Goalie Tanner MacPhee appeared to have the puck covered under his glove at the side of the Maryland goal, but the puck found its way through the senior netminder and into the crease, where a waiting Virginia Tech player stashed it into a near empty net.

“The first goal was a rebound I let up and I went to go cover it and my defenseman went to push it into me so I could get it quicker and it just slipped through and that was it,” MacPhee said.

Trailing for the first time all season, Maryland rallied in the second half of the period, taking a one-goal lead into the first intermission after excellent individual efforts by Zach Arden and Nick Keppler respectively resulted in two Terrapin goals.

“We’ve been coming out pretty strong for every game this season and I think that that Virginia Tech team was definitely a better team than we thought they would be,” MacPhee said. “So I mean we definitely battled them back and forth, we came out on top in the first period though, which was huge.”

Strong play from Virginia Tech goalie Tanner Jones held the Terps at bay in the second period until Keppler scored his second goal of the game, putting a low wrist shot through Jones at a tough angle.

“Coach told us before the game to really use our speed,” Keppler said. “There aren’t a whole lot of teams in this division that are going to keep up with us if we skate to our full potential.”

Arden also added to his goal total in the second frame, putting on the moves in front of the opponent’s goal and slipping the puck past a helpless Jones who was caught out of position.

“I think we started wearing them down later with our speed like I was saying earlier, and I think we just really got on them and they lost their legs later,” Keppler said.

“A couple bounces went our way,” Gaudet said. “I thought we controlled the play there for a good part of the first period. Hit a couple posts, their goalie played really well, made a bunch of really nice saves. You know I just think we just kind of [bored] down on the puck and found a way to put it in the net and got a couple bounces that went our way.”

The Terps look to stay undefeated Saturday with a road contest against Rider at 8:30 p.m.

“We have some things we need to work on, another good team we’re playing tomorrow night so we’ll have to bring another good effort tomorrow for sure,” Gaudet said.

The Terp's D2 Team Tryouts and Player Meeting are scheduled as follows:

September 1st: Player Meeting (ERC Multipurpose Room, 3:00 p.m.)

September 2nd: Tryouts (Laurel Ice Garden from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.)

September 3rd: Tryouts (Laurel Ice Garden from 4:40 - 5:40 p.m.)

September 4th: Tryouts (Laurel Ice Garden from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.)

If you are interested in trying out or learning more about the team, please email Lucas Davis (lucas.u.davis@gmail.com) and fill out a recruiting form located under the recruiting tab at the top of our web page.

After a spectacular second half of the season, the Terps just missed qualifying for a regional berth. The top ten teams in the region qualify for a spot in the regional tournament, and Maryland finished in 11th, one point behind Bowling Green. The rankings were as follows:

Florida Gulf Coast (9 points)

UMBC (22 points)

Penn State (27 points)

Liberty (42 points)

Miami (45 points)

Virginia Tech (43 points)

Toledo (57 points)

Rowan (77 points)

Delaware (79 points)

Bowling Green (93 points)

Maryland (94 points)

The Terps are already looking forward to next season with some key players coming back, freshman goalie Tanner Macphee and freshman leading goal scorer Avery Clair. However the Terps have a lot of holes to fill with many key seniors leaving. We wish the best of luck to the 10 seniors graduating!

The University of Maryland Terrapins travel north this Friday and Saturday to take on the Temple University Owls, and the Rider University Broncs, two ACHA Southeast Division rivals. Riding a four game losing streak, the Terps are looking for a change in their luck.

This weekend might be the Terps’ chance. First they face the 4-2 Owls, who they defeated in a gritty 6-5 win in the first game of the season. “Temple is fun to play against,” said Head Coach Krampf. “They work hard and battle. That makes for fun hockey.”

The Owls are 6-2-2 this season, but coming off a two game winning streak that the Terps hope to end. “Over the course of the season, most teams experience some kind of losing streak,” said senior defenseman and team co-president Jake Kaplan. “We have to show resilience and just focus on the next game. That’s what good teams do. Bad ones will just fade away. That’s not what we're about.”

The Terrapins are indeed a good team. Their losing streak does not properly reflect the level of play exhibited at some of their last few games. Coach Krampf chalks this up to some unlucky bounces.

“There have been a couple games this year where we are in the game but haven't gotten the good hockey bounces,” he said. “In hockey a couple bounces here or there is the difference in several goals in the game.

He also noted the importance of playing the full sixty minutes, or more, necessary to win a hockey game. He said, “With as talented as the teams are in the MACH, if you take a shift or two off you quickly find yourself giving up a couple of goals.”

Rider is 7-2 this season, and the last meeting between the Terps and Broncs didn’t go as planned. Though the Terps lost 4-1, the game was highlighted by highly aggressive play. Looking toward this weekend, Kaplan indicated the problem as difficulty in implementation. “We know the formula to beat them,” he said, “we just have to execute.”

“A win against any of the teams we play against this year is huge,” said Coach Krampf. “We are all battling for those relative ratings for those on the ranking committee.” Though Coach recognizes the hardships of two away games, his players are keeping a positive attitude. “Road trips are fun,” said Kaplan. “No worries except playing hockey.”

The games this weekend will be held on Friday in the Northeast SkateZone in Philadelphia, PA and on Saturday in the Loucks Ice Center in Lawrenceville, NJ.